October 1974 Council Minutes

October 25, 1974
MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL
The Council met in the Grand Lounge of the Sheraton-Russell Hotel in New
York City on Friday, October 25, 1974 at 4:00 PM. The members present were
H. Bass, P. Bateman, L. Bers, R. Bott, W. Comfort, R. Kirby, L. Lorch, S.
MacLane, A. Mattuck, E. Moise, C. Morawetz, P. Mostert, F. Peterson, E.
Pitcher, D. Rim, A. Shields, J. Scanlon, J. Schwartz, R. Seeley, I. Singer,
O. Taussky. Also present were L. Durst, R. Hahn, H. Mac Donald, and G. L.
Walker and by invitation, R. D. Anderson, Judy Green and R. Singer. President
MacLane was in the chair.
The minutes of the Council of May 12, 1974 had been distributed by
mail. The Secretary noted an error on P. 3, L. l8-20. In the matter of the
interim report of the Committee on Employment of Mathematicians in Two-Year
Colleges, there were four words omitted (underlined below, so that the passage
should read:)
... to receive the report with thanks to the Committee, TO RECOMMEND
ITS PUBLICATION, and to instruct the Secretary to transmit the essence
of the discussion to the Committee.
With this correction, the minutes were approved.
The Council of May 12, 1974 recommended a set of operating procedures
for the COMMITTEE ON LEGAL AID. These were amended and then approved by the
Trustees. The amendments are somewhat more than editorial and occur in Section
III. The text of the amended version is attached. The Council concurred with
the amended version.
The Committee on Women in Mathematics submitted a final report,
attached, and requested to be discharged. Following one recommendation of the
Committee, the Council approved a resolution by Prof. Morawetz that the roster
of women Ph.D.'s be supplemented annually. On her further motion, the Council
passed a resolution that the other recommendations in the report, including
specifically the up-dating of the roster every five years, be included in the
charge to the joint AMS-MAA Committee on Women in Math. It was noted and
agreed that funding of the joint committee should be recommended. The
Committee was discharged with thanks.
The Committee on the Emergency Employment Situation in Mathematics
presented the attached interim report. It included four motions for consid-
eration by the Council. The Chairman, Prof. Charles W. Curtis, presented the
report.
As noted in a letter from the Chairman, Motion l in other forms had
been considered previously by the Council. For example, the Council of
2l August 1973 in Missoula passed a resolution originating with the Committee
on Employment and Educational Policy, with the understanding that an edited
form should be published. The published version occurs in the NOTICES 2l,
ll8, February l974.
Recommendation 2 in the report was offered as a motion and was debated
and amended in detail, finally to have the following text:
The Council approves in principle the proposal that the Society,
possibly in cooperation with the MAA and SIAM, begin a series of
summer institutes, to provide continuing education and familiarity
with research problems in such fields as statistics, computing, and
operations research for persons holding Ph.D. degrees in other fields.
In the amended form the motion was passed.
Prof. Curtis presented recommendation 3 of the report as a motion in
slightly altered form. An amendment proposed by Prof. E.E. Moise was adopted.
The text as revised by Curtis and as amended (amendment in italics) is as
follows:
The Council of the AMS adopts the principles that all positions in
the mathematical sciences SHALL INSOFAR AS PRACTICABLE be
advertised, and that the standard place for the advertisements to
appear is the publication EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION FOR MATHEMATICIANS.
The Council also requests the Joint Committee on Employment
Opportunities to develop a set of standard and reasonable employment
procedures, to be reported back to the Council and other cooperating
organizations for approval. These procedures should include, for
example, a requirement that employers give a closing date on all
advertisements, and set a reasonable time prospective employees
should be given to respond to offers.
Presentation of the remainder of the report by Prof. Curtis was set
aside for certain other matters. First, was a resolution that Mary Gray and
Lee Lorch had signified their intent of introducing, a resolution that they,
together with Anatole Beck, had introduced at the meeting of May 12, 1974. The
text is as follows:
1. The AMS shall not hold meetings at hotels where facilities are
administered or designated in such a fashion as to suggest discrim-
ination.
2. The Society shall inform the Biltmore Hotel, New York, where April
meetings have often been held of this policy and of the fact that this
policy will preclude holding meetings there until at least such time as
the facilities there now designated as "Men's Grill" are renamed (and
administered) in a non-discriminating fashion.
3. The Society office shall prepare a checklist for the guidance of
local arrangements committees. This checklist shall be prepared after
soliciting suggestions via a request in the next issue of the NOTICES
and shall be approved by the Council.
A message from Anatole Beck is attached. On the previous occasion the
resolution was tabled.
Prof. Lipman Bers offered a substitute resolution in two parts. The
first part was that the Secretary be instructed to write to the manager of the
Biltmore Hotel to the effect that "some of our members have told us that they
find the inscription 'Men's Grill' offensive and that we wonder whether,
because it is not really a men's grill, they would consider changing the name".
[The dining room in question is sometimes called the Biltmore Grill and has
signs at entrances that read "Men's Bar". E.P.] It was pointed out that a
meeting of March l975 would probably be held at the Biltmore. The attached
letter from Associate Secretary Walter Gottschalk was read by Prof. W. Wistar
Comfort. It appeared to agreed during the discussion that the letter to the
manager of the Biltmore should not be worded as an ultimatum. The motion was
passed.
The second part of Prof. Bers' motion concerned the facts behind a
letter from Prof. Solveig Espelie, that had not been circulated to the Council
although some individual members had seen it. An extract from the letter is
attached. President MacLane agreed to refer the question to the Committee on
Places of Meetings and the motion was not formalized.
The Council returned to the general area of the report of CEESIM.
Prof. Chandler Davis moved that the Council urge that positions in the
mathematical sciences be advertised in such places as the AWM Newsletter.
Prof. Paul Mostert offered a substitute that the Society advertise the
existence of the publication Employment Information in Mathematics in the AWM
Newsletter. The motion to substitute and then the substitute motion were
passed.
The council met in Executive Session. They noted the resignation of
Schlomo Sternberg from the position of member of the Editorial Committee of the
Transactions and Memoirs and ex officio member of the Council. They further
noted the recommendation by the Editorial Committee that he be replaced by
Prof. Alexandra Ionescu Tulcea, to a term that extends through December 3l,
1977. The Council elected Prof. Tulcea to the post, subject to approval by the
Trustees of the action.
The Council recessed for dinner at 6:35 PM and reconvened at 8:00 PM in
open session.
President Saunders MacLane presented a proposal from Prof. Ed. Dubinsky
as detailed in the attached exchange of correspondence between MacLane and
Dubinsky and, as noted in the attachment, referred the question to CEESIM and
called it to the attention of the Committee on Relations with Government.
The Council again returned to the report of CEESIM. Prof. Curtis
offered Recommendation 4 of the report as a motion, as follows:
The Council recommends a feasibility study and eventual publication
on a regular basis (annual, biannual, etc.) of a list of non-academic
employers of members of AMS, MAA and SIAM, by states and cities,
combined with a separate list showing brief job description of persons
employed by employers in the first list.
The motion was passed.
Prof. Davis moved that the Council instruct the Editors of the NOTICES
to publish the attached Letter to the Editor from Prof. Harriet Lord. In the
course of the discussion, Prof. Pitcher introduced the entire exchange of
correspondence with Prof. Lord, including the rejection of the letter. The
correspondence is attached. The motion was passed after considerable
discussion, during part of which President MacLane relinquished the chair to
Prof. Bers in order to participate.
On returning again to the report from CEESIM, Recommendation l was
discussed. there was no motion. It was thought appropriate to continue to
inform graduate students and prospective graduate students of mathematics about
the difficulty of locating suitable positions following graduate education.
The Committee on Teaching Loads and Class Size presented for infor-
mation an interim report in the form of the attached minutes of August 2l,
1974.
The Committee on Relations with Government submitted the attached report.
Part of the discussion was a report by President Mac Lane about the content of
bill S32 (National Policy and Priorities for Science and Technology Act of
1974) and the fact that it had just been passed by the Senate. Prof. Bass
moved that a Committee be appointed to communicate information to the Society
and to the National Science Foundation and to report to the Council, all with
the possible view of aiding in the passage of the bill. At this point,
President MacLane turned the chair over to Prof. Bers and left the meeting
room. The motion was seconded and passed.
President MacLane was invited to return and to assume the chair.
The Committee on Employment and Educational Policy submitted the
attached Summary of Activities of the CEEP. The Chairman, Prof. R. D.
Anderson, proposed the following resolution, which is item 6 of the report:
If circumstances require an increase in teaching loads at an
institution, the increase should be shared equitably across
ranks.
During the discussion Prof. Mary Gray proposed a substitute motion that
newly employed faculty members should not be assigned a heavier teaching load
than that which is normal for the department. However, at this point the main
motion was tabled.
Prof. Anderson then introduced item 8 of the report, reproduced here in
entirety:
BUDGETING PROCEDURES AND COST EFFECTIVENESS: There appear to be
increasing pressures in the higher educational community for the
imposition of cost effectiveness studies and criteria and for
budgeting to be handled on a cost per student hour basis. Several
mathematicians or departments have already asked the Society for
advice on such questions. Since the issues involved are complex
and complicated, the CEEP feels that an Ad Hoc Committee composed
of persons (probably department chairman) familiar with university
budgeting procedures and problems should be established to advise
the Council on whether the Society should try to establish guidelines
and criteria for mathematics department funding.
Appointment of the Committee was authorized. It was understood that
the President Elect would undertake to do it.
Professor Gray moved that the editorial policy of the NOTICES be
liberalized to allow individuals the opportunity to submit or publish articles
giving other interpretations of data. The context was that the Council of
January 20, 1971 suggested that it was appropriate for members of CEEP to make
editorial comment in articles in the NOTICES. Such articles are submitted by
individuals, speaking as individuals although using data gathered by the
Committee. By general agreement, the issue was postponed until the next
meeting, by which time a report from an ad hoc committee to be appointed by
the President Elect might be available.
The Council discharged with thanks each of the following Committees:
Committee on Publication of Regional Conference Lectures
Mathematical Reviews Coverage Committee
Committee on the Washington Panel
Mathematical Reviews Index Committee
A file of correspondence about the PROCEEDINGS was initiated by a
letter from John Isbell to Saunders MacLane dated 25 June 1974. The file,
attached, includes the following items:
1. The letter from Isbell
2. Response from Chandler Davis dated 25 July 1974
3. Letter to the Editors of the PROCEEDINGS from Saunders MacLane
dated l August l974
4. Reaction of W. Wistar Comfort dated l6 September l974.
5. Letter from Ronald G. Douglas, as Associate Editor, dated
l7 September l974.
6. Letter from Isbell to Comfort dated l8 September l974.
There is a separately generated letter from F.G. Asenjo concerning the primary
journals of the Society, also attached.
The Secretary presented the following resolution, based on the letter
of Saunders MacLane.
The Council requests the Editorial committee of the PROCEEDINGS to
lay the groundwork for a discussion of ITS editorial policy by
reporting to the Council of January 22, 1975 a formulation of a
position on some or all of the following editorial matters:
l. The appropriateness of the existing page limit on acceptable
papers.
2. Policy for acceptance of papers, including suggestions how to
encourage the presentation of more complete and definitive papers instead
of partial results.
3. Policy to encourage the writing of informative papers versus
technical papers.
4. Policy about acceptance of papers which, though they correctly
present new material, are dull.
5. Solicitation of papers by the editors.
The Committee is invited to report also on such other matters of acceptance
standard and procedures and other matters of publication policy as may occur to
them in the course of their deliberations.
With the addition of the word "its" in line three, the resolution was passed.
It was understood that the naming of the Committee would devolve on the
President Elect.
The Association for Women in Mathematics applied to become a member of the
Conference Board of the Math. Sciences. The letter of application is attached.
Article II, Sections 1 and 2, of the CBMS Constitution, stating membership
criteria and election procedure, are quoted in the attached letter from the
chairman of CBMS. In response to the second letter, the Society voted to
approve the application of AWM for affiliate membership in CBMS.
William Bevan, Executive Officer of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (subsequently retired from the post), submitted the
attached resolution and covering letter. Professor Gray moved that the Council
endorse the resolution adopted by AAAS. President Mac Lane turned the chair
over to Prof. Bers to participate in the debate. The motion passed. Then
Prof. MacLane moved that the Council transmit to the AAAS Council the
resolution of the Society Council recommending the reestablishment of NSF
postdoctoral fellowships, passed. President MacLane resumed the chair.
Prof. Bers spoke on a general plan, transmitted to him by Prof. Carlo
Pucci, of sending some young Italian graduate students to the United States for
advanced graduate study. The venture would be a cooperative one, overseen
jointly by the Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche in Italy as one partner
(supplying among other things the funds) and by some U.S. organization, pre-
sumably the AMS, as the other. He noted that plans are rather fluid at this
point. He moved that a committee be appointed to study the proposal, define
it firmly, and make a recommendation. The motion was passed.
Prof. Michael Atiyah, representing the London Mathematical Society, in
conversation with officers of the Society, expressed interest on the part of
the LMS in joint meetings with the AMS. In order to establish the principle
strongly, he suggested that the first such meeting be tied to the U.S.
Bicentennial. The Secretary proposed that the idea be referred to the
Committee to Monitor Problems in Communication for study and for a report to
the Council. Prof. Lorch proposed an amendment that the Canadian Mathematical
Congress be included as a participant in the possible joint meeting. In
amended form the resolution was passed.
President MacLane again relinquished the chair to Prof. Bers and then
presented the attached document entitled "A Proposed Study of the Character of
Mathematical Models". He moved that a Committee be appointed to study further
the subject of Mathematical Models as Used in Governmental Policy Decisions.
The motion was passed. President MacLane returned to the chair.
Prof. Bers stated his intention of appointing an ad hoc Committee on
Committees to examine the selection, activity, and function of Society
Committees and to report to the Council possibly in August of l975.
The minutes of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees dated
June 20-21, 1974 are attached for information.
On instruction from the Council, the Secretary wrote to the Ambassador
from Chile inquiring about Prof. Galo Gomez Oyarzun. The inquiry and the
exchange that it generated are contained in a set of four attached letters.
Prof. Bers read the attached letter from an associate concerning the nature
of the "el pueblo de Chacabuco," named in one of the letters, and suggested
publishing it in the NOTICES.
The Secretary was instructed to write a similar letter of inquiry to
the ambassador of the U.S.S.R. concerning Leonid Plyushch.
Professor Bers read an open letter from I. Shaferevich and others
concerning Yuri Gastiev. He arranged that the letter or a version edited by
him be published in the NOTICES.
On instruction from the Council, the Secretary wrote to the Ambassador
from Greece inquiring about Professor Pavlos Georgiou. There was no reply.
The letter of inquiry is attached for information.
Professor Gray suggested that two attached items be circulated for
information.
The Committee on Employment of Mathematicians in Two-Year Colleges
presented an interim report to the Council of May 12, 1974. The Council
discussed the report at that time and resolved to instruct the Secretary to
transmit the essence of the discussion to the Committee. In response the
Chairman, Jerome M. Sachs, wrote a letter to President Mac Lane, which is
attached for information.
Professor Bers presented a progress report in the matter of Shikhanovich
and Plyushch.
The Advisory Committee on the English Edition of the Encyclopedia of the
Mathematical Society of Japan submitted an interim report in the form of the
attached letter.
There has been continuing and unresolved difference of opinion between
this Society and the MIT Press and between Prof. Zariski and the MIT Press
about payments for certain reprint rights. This minute is a progress report.
The MIT Press is publishing a series titled MATHEMATICIANS OF OUR TIMES,
consisting of collected works and selected works. The Press and the Society
have a contract specifying certain payments by the Press to the Society for the
right to reprint material copyrighted by the Society in these volumes. Prof.
Zariski, one of the featured mathematicians, has a contract with the Press for
royalties for the publication of his works. When papers from Society journals
were reprinted in the first volume of Zariski's works, the Press paid the
Society as contracted. They deducted an equal amount form the royalties of
Prof. Zariski, also presumably as contracted. The situation is much more
complex than indicated here and is described in more detail, but by no means
completely, in the minutes of May 12, 1974. One may refer also to minutes of
the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees of June 20-21, 1974, item 36.
The Trustees decided to pay to Prof. Zariski an amount equal to the permission
fee paid by the Press to the Society with respect tot he material reprinted in
the first volume of Zariski's works. The Press has stated that they will not
deduct fees in that manner in the future.
The minutes of the 3lst Council meeting of Conference Board of the
Mathematical Sciences are attached for information.
Everett Pitcher, Secretary
October 25, 1974